|
|
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 1
stranger
|
OP
stranger
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 1 |
I want to know why it is called blowing raspberries, where does it derive from & why do we still call it that? Surely there was another term for it?
JJRN1814
JJRN1814
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,385
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,385 |
I want to know why it is called blowing raspberries, where does it derive from & why do we still call it that?
"Blowing raspberries" comes from the slang meaning of "raspberry", Daniel.
Dictionary.com says:
4. Slang. A derisive or contemptuous sound made by vibrating the extended tongue and the lips while exhaling.
Not sure why the raspberry got singled out for this indelicacy. [They don't deserve it.]
Dictionary.com proposes this explanation:
Obsolete raspis, raspberry + berry. Sense 4, possibly short for raspberry tart rhyming slang for fart.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 22
stranger
|
|
stranger
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 22 |
I'm not familiar with that phrase, but a google produced the following, which seems logical: In United States some common slang seems to have had its origin in Cockney rhyming slang: "raspberry," shortened from "raspberry tart" means fart; http://www.answers.com/topic/cockney-rhyming-slangOh, goodness. I got the url creator correct on the very first try.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Oh, Pat--thank you! I never knew why giving someone a raspberry was called that. Raspberry sounds much nicer!
Welcome aBoard, daniel.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
yep, OED confirms the usage:
1892 Sporting Times 29 Oct. 1/2 Then I sallied forth with a careless air, And contented raspberry tart. 1959 I. & P. OPIE Lore & Lang. Schoolch. i. 9 Breaking wind was, at one time, by the process of rhyming slang, known as a ‘raspberry tart’.
and here I was all set to come up with some convoluted conflation of the word rasp (an unpleasant sound) + an ironic use of berries, as in "it's the ~".
-joe (Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem) occam
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,385
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,385 |
yep, OED confirms the usage
Thanks, tsuwm.
Looks like Dictionary.com [American-Heritage] got it right.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
an other term? Sure--a Bronx Cheer!
why a Bronx cheer? haven't a clue.. but the bronx does have a reputation for crude and low class. (not deserved, not deserved at all!)
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,385
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,385 |
From Wikipedia.com "Blowing a Raspberry"One of the most famous uses of the Bronx Cheer is in the song "Der Fuehrer's Face", as recorded by musical comedian Spike Jones in 1942, which shows disdain for Adolf Hitler with the repeated refrain "We'll Heil! <Bronx cheer sound> Heil! <Bronx cheer> Right in Der Fuehrer's Face!"http://www.answers.com/topic/bronx-cheer
|
|
|
|
Forums16
Topics13,913
Posts229,316
Members9,182
| |
Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
|
|
|
0 members (),
342
guests, and
3
robots. |
|
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
|
